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An aerial view of Carti Sugtupu in Panama.
An aerial view of Carti Sugtupu in Panama.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

  • The Guna people living on an island in Panama called Carti Sugtupu will soon relocate to the mainland.
  • Rising sea levels have caused harsher storms and tougher living conditions on the island.
  • Their resettlement could become a blueprint for other at-risk coastal communities.

On a tiny island off the coast of Panama, about 1,200 Indigenous locals known as the Guna people are waiting to leave. 

The island, which is called Carti Sugtupu, is over the size of four football fields and is only 3.2 feet above sea level. In recent years, its residents have increasingly felt the impacts of climate change, weathering brutal storms and flooding. 

On the mainland, Panama's government has been building a 300-house village they can move to, but construction has been repeatedly delayed. They are hoping to move there early next year.

Here's what life is like for the Guna people of Carti Sugtupu.

Just off Panama's northern coastline is the San Blas archipelago, a group of about 365 mostly uninhabited islands.
An aerial view of islands in the San Blas Islands.
An aerial view of islands in the San Blas archipelago.

Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images

The area is known for its natural beauty — sandy beaches, clear water, and palm trees.

Some of the islands are inhabited by an Indigenous community known as the Guna people.
Guna people in Panama.
Guna people in Panama.

Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images

About 150 years ago, the Guna people fled from the mainland due to violent conflicts, as well as diseases like yellow fever and malaria.

They settled throughout the archipelago. There are now about 30,000 Guna people across 39 islands. There are also Guna people living on the mainland, across 10 villages.

The Guna people are culturally independent.
A Guna woman in a traditional dress stands in front of her home on the island of Carti Sugtupu.
A Guna woman in a traditional dress stands in front of her home on the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Nina Raingold/Getty Images

They fought hard for their autonomy against the Spanish and the Panamanian government.

Anthony Oliver-Smith, an anthropologist at the University of Florida, told Science News the Guna people were one of the Indigenous groups in South America most successful at preserving their language, territory, and culture.

Recently, the fate of one tiny island, Carti Sugtupu, in the archipelago has been watched closely.
An aerial view of the island of Carti Sugtupu in Panama.
An aerial view of the island of Carti Sugtupu in Panama.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

More than 1,200 Guna people live on Carti Sugtupu, also known as Gardi Sugdub or "Crab Island.

The island covers an area of about 1,300 feet by 500 feet.

The locals rely on fishing and harvesting crops on the mainland, as well as a little tourism.
Guna men talk as they sit among boats on the island of Carti Sugtupu.
Guna men talk as they sit among boats on the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

The island doesn't have access to sanitation systems or drinking water, and most residents rely on a public generator for sometimes only a few hours of electricity per day.

But they cook.
Magdalena Martinez, a local island resident, cooks at her house on Carti Sugtupu.
Magdalena Martinez, a local island resident, cooks at her house on Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

And go to school.
Students talk before class on Carti Sugtupu.
Students talk before class on Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

But life on the island has gotten harder in recent years.
A Guna man paddles toward the island of Carti Sugtupu.
A Guna man paddles toward the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

Carti Sugtupu is only 3.2 feet above sea level.
A Guna man transports his family on a boat with a sail near the island of Carti Sugtupu, not the island pictured in the distance.
A Guna man transports his family on a boat with a sail near the island of Carti Sugtupu, not the island pictured in the distance.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

As the sea rises by 3.5 millimeters per year, the situation is critical.  

In contrast, back in the 1960s, the sea was only rising by about 1 millimeter each year.

Now, every year, locals living on Carti Sugtupu have to deal with floods that can last as long as two weeks.
A house was destroyed by the sea on the island of Carti Sugtupu.
A house was destroyed by the sea on the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

The floods have forced schools to close down, have washed away possessions, and have damaged houses.

A local named Victoria Navarro told the BBC the stress of it has deeply affected her. 

"I never sleep well — we're awake 24 hours a day," she said.

Over the years, locals extended the island by filling in the surrounding coral with stones and trash, which may have expedited the impact of the rising sea levels.
An aerial view of the islands of Carti Sugtupu, Carti Yandup, and Carti Tupile.
An aerial view of the islands of Carti Sugtupu, Carti Yandup, and Carti Tupile.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

They were trying to make more space to live on, but by filling in the coral, they removed the island's natural protection from storms and coastal erosion. 

This has happened across a number of islands in the region.

The Guna people never planned on leaving, but after brutal storms hit the island in 2008, the community decided they needed an alternative plan.
A Guna woman walks under the rain on the island of Carti Sugtupu.
A Guna woman walks under the rain on the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

"It's very different than in the past," Heliodora Murphy, a 52-year-old island resident, told Science News. "The waves are so much higher now. We can't stay here."

Carti Sugtupu's situation is not unique.
An aerial view of an island in Tuvalu in the South Pacific.
An aerial view of an island in Tuvalu in the South Pacific.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Around the world, an estimated 216 million people will need to migrate by 2050 due to climate change, according to a World Bank study released in 2021. 

Island nations like Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu face the same problems.

But unlike many island nations, the residents of Carti Sugtupu have a relocation plan in place.
A family in a boat paddling near Carti Sugtupu.
A family in a boat paddling near Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

They are going to move to mainland Panama, and the process is already underway. The Guna people arranged for a piece of land covering about 17 hectares in Panama to be put aside for a new town.

They didn't have the resources to build a new community at first. 

But in response to pleas for assistance, Panama's Ministry of Housing promised to build them 50 homes on the mainland.

While 50 houses weren't enough for 1,300 people, it was a start. But after the offer was made, nothing happened for years.
A group of Guna children sitting outside and leaning on houses on Carti Sugtupu.
A group of Guna children sitting outside and leaning on houses on Carti Sugtupu.

Arnulfo Franco/AP

In 2014, the Guna people started publicizing their predicament, and international human rights groups and NGOs stepped in and worked with them.

In 2017, the ministry agreed to build 300 new homes on the allotted land.

Since then, construction on the new town called La Barriada, translating to "the neighborhood," has been underway.
An aerial view of the Isber Yala neighborhood being built on the Caribbean coast in mainland Panama.
An aerial view of the Isber Yala neighborhood being built on the Caribbean coast in mainland Panama.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

But it's taken longer than expected and construction was slowed by the pandemic. The residents' move-in date has been delayed several times. 

At one point, it was slated for completion by late September 2023, but that was pushed back, too. 

Now, the government has advised it will open in February next year.

As of late last year, the town was 70% completed.
An aerial view of a row of houses in the Isber Yala neighborhood on the Caribbean coast in mainland Panama.
An aerial view of a row of houses in the Isber Yala neighborhood on the Caribbean coast in mainland Panama.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

When the homes are completed, they will have electricity, running water, cement floors, and walls made from bamboo.

But not everyone is going to leave the island.
Guna Indigenous community leaders lie on hammocks in a building on the island of Carti Sugtupu.
Guna Indigenous community leaders known as Saglas lie on hammocks while attending people at the local congress on the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

A 70-year-old resident named Pedro Lopez told Science News he was going to stay on Carti Sugtupu, saying he believed it wouldn't go underwater within his lifetime.

Nonetheless, the island will become unlivable at some point.
A Guna Indigenous man paddles his canoe as he fishes near the island of Carti Sugtupu.
A Guna Indigenous man paddles his canoe as he fishes near the island of Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

Steven Paton, director of the physical monitoring program at the Smithsonian Tropic Research Institute, told the Wall Street Journal it was basically a matter of time. 

"Based on current sea-level rise predictions, it is almost certain that within the next 20 years the Guna will have to start leaving these islands and by the end of the century, most will probably have to be abandoned," he said.

The residents of Carti Sugtupu are not the only Guna people facing this issue.
An aerial view of Nurdub, a tourist island near Carti Sugtupu.
An aerial view of Nurdub, a tourist island near Carti Sugtupu.

Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

Ligia Castro, Panama's head of climate change policy, told the Wall Street Journal all of the Guna people across 39 islands will have to move eventually.

"At least we have time from now to 2050 to move them slowly to the mainland," she said.

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Climate change is pushing an Indigenous community in Panama off their island ho…